From corn mazes to new dishes, fall signals new beginnings for foodies, says Andrew Coppolino

Traditionally, the end of summer and beginning of autumn brings a bountiful food harvest. 

Chefs love fall and the abundance of crops — squash, apples, corn, leeks, Brussels sprouts — that arrive fresh throughout the season.

And, in many cultures including the Jewish calendar, this is the beginning of a new year. 

Here are some new and fresh food beginnings of note for fall 2019.

New restaurant openings

Waterloo has seen a few new restaurants open in the past several months: Kentucky Bourbon and BBQ and a new izakaya, Jinzakaya, in the downtown (a sibling restaurant to Kitchener's Kinkaku Izakaya).

Billing themselves as an "afternoon tea venue," Queen of Hearts Coffee and Tea House on Victoria Street N. has just opened and is tucked in behind the Swiss Chalet.

An opening that has generated some buzz is Hemlock Street Burger Bar, on Hemlock just about at University Avenue. This small take-away joint specializes in "smashed" burgers on a soft potato bun, one version of which mimics the Big Mac. The burgers, however, are more akin to a Shake Shack burger in the U.S. and that means delicious.

Shakshuka, a suddenly popular dish

The fall means a plethora of new menus and inventive dishes — and too many to include here. But one example that has seen a bump of popularity recently is shakshuka, the Middle Eastern dish of an egg soft-poached and runny in a spiced tomato sauce. It's popular in the Mediterranean, where the Italians call it uova in purgatorio — "eggs in purgatory."

Known for its beer selection, Arabella Park is no slouch when it comes to food. The kitchen will be launching a few new dishes including one that blends both the season and shakshuka: they take a whole roasted mini-pumpkin or squash and fill it with shakshuka, runny soft-poached egg on top.

And, on their new brunch menu, the Walper Hotel has also added a shakshuka dish with fried brioche, chickpeas and feta, making it a warming autumn dish that blends comfort food from different cultures.

Dan McCowan has in fact had shakshuka on his Redhouse Uptown menu, but this fall he is serving a rustic whole but boneless quail with a Muskoka Brewery Harvest Ale barbecue sauce along with the red cabbage, kohlrabi and apple slaw that just sings fall, Oktoberfest and "Waterloo County fare."

New 'spring' beer

How, you might ask, can there be "spring time" beer in Waterloo region? When it's Märzen (March) beer, that's how. This traditional beer is served in fall (which eventually included Oktoberfest in the 1800s).

Centuries ago in Germany, Märzen beer was brewed in the cool spring weather, stored during summer and served in the fall when there was no beer and as the brewing process was able to start up again.

Innocente Brewing, Block Three and TWB will all be serving the classic autumn suds made with German malts, hops and yeast.

Shanah Tovah: Happy Jewish New Year

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, starts September 29 and runs until October 1. Food always plays an integral part, according to Rabbi Moshe Goldman of Waterloo's Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life.

"You can't separate the importance of food from a celebration like this," Goldman says. "It's always a combination between the spiritual and the delicacies. Thank God for that because if all we did was pray we would be very unpopular within our own faith. That's why we have great meals for most holidays!"

Rosh Hashanah food traditions you can partake of include honey cake, dipping an apple in honey to encourage a "sweet" new year or eating a pomegranate.

"All those seeds symbolize the good deeds you will do," says Goldman. But it's also about what foods to leave out: there is nothing bitter at the table at Rosh Hashanah, he adds, so you can get a sweet start to Hebrew Year 5780. 

Farm and harvest events

Fall fairs happen just about every weekend until late October (check out ontariofairs.org), and this is a great time to take the kids to an area corn maze and perhaps visit with some of the farm animals.

• Strom's Farm and Bakery, Guelph, has a six-acre corn maze.
• Snyder's Family Farm, Bright, Ont., has a five-acre corn maze and corn tower.
• Leaping Deer Adventure Farm and Market, Ingersoll, has a 10-acre maze.
• Shantz Family Farm in Petersburg has a corn maze, wagon rides and farm animals.

In Waterloo region, the 10th annual Hespeler Harvest Festival is September 28 at Forbes Park. It runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A trio of fall restaurant events

Coming up later in October is the "100 Mile Feast" dinner that features local cooks Navita Singh of Loloan, Thompson Tran of Wooden Boat Food Company and Paul Masbad of Nuestro 88. The Thai-themed multi-course dinner is a Chamber of Commerce Greater Kitchener-Waterloo fundraiser for physician recruitment in Waterloo Region.

Two local cooks and a butcher — Jon Rennie, Nick Benninger and Matt Kendrick — will be preparing a "Mustard Dinner" at Uptown 21 as Caplansky's Deli online store is launched on Shopify (there is a Shopify office in Waterloo). Owner Zane Caplansky notes that a percentage of online mustard sales will go to No Kid Hungry.

Visit Chef on Call in Waterloo and purchase a "Donator" burger, a monthly feature that sends $2 from each Donator burger sale to a local non-profit. October Donator support goes to the Waterloo Region Down Syndrome Society.